1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image formation apparatus and an image formation system.
2. Description of Related Art
Among conventional image formation apparatuses such as a printer, a copy machine, a facsimile machine, or an MFP (multifunctional peripheral or printer), for example, a copy machine, reads an image of a document with a scanner unit to obtain image data thereof, converts the image data to print data, transmits the print data to an image formation unit, and forms an image according to the print data on a medium such as a sheet of paper with an image formation unit.
There has been proposed a copy machine having a function, after being instructed by an operator to execute an image formation, to calculate the remaining time to the end of the image forming process and to inform the operator of the calculated remaining time (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-345765).
In such copy machine, times required to complete basic operations such as a print time per sheet are stored in a memory. When the operator selects image formation conditions, which are conditions for forming the image, by using an operation unit such as an operator panel, the copy machine reads out the times of the basic operations from the memory, calculates the remaining time based on the times of the basic operations, and informs the operator of the calculated remaining time. If the image formation conditions are changed before the completion of the image forming process, the copy machine updates the remaining time.